The island of Gotland houses a number of terrestrial mammalian species even though it was covered with ice during the last glacial period. The purpose of this study is to genetically analyse the mountain hare (Lepus timidus) to deduce its origin and genetic structure during different time periods, and also to discuss how it reached the island. A 130 base pair sequence of mitochondrial DNA from 38 prehistoric hares was analysed and compared to modern hares from different locations in Europe. The result shows a discrepancy among the samples creating two populations with different origin.

Aim: The majority of the non-volant mammals now present on the island of Gotland, Sweden, have been introduced in modern times. One exception is the mountain hare (Lepus timidus), which was present on the island more than 9000 years ago. This paper investigates the origins of the Gotland hares and temporal changes in their genetic structure, and considers how they may have reached the island.

Location: The island of Gotland, Sweden (57°30′ N, 18°20′ E).

Methods: Two fragments of the mitochondrial D-loop 130 + 164 base pairs in length from skeletal remains from 40 ancient mountain hares from Gotland, 38 from the Swedish mainland and five from Lithuania were analysed and compared with 90 modern L. timidus haplotypes from different locations in Eurasia and five haplotypes of the Don-hare (Lepus tanaiticus) morphotype.

Results: The Mesolithic hares from Gotland (7304 bc–5989 bc) cluster with modern hares from Russia, Scotland, the Alps and Fennoscandia whereas the Gotland hares from the Neolithic and onwards (2848 bc–1641 ad) cluster with Neolithic hares from the Swedish mainland and modern hares from Fennoscandia. The Neolithic haplotypes from Lithuania and the Don-hare haplotypes were dispersed within the network. The level of differentiation (FST) between the Mesolithic and Neolithic hares on Gotland was twice as great as that observed on the mainland.

Main conclusions: The ancient hares on Gotland fall into two haplogroups separated in time, indicating that the mountain hare became extinct at one point, with subsequent re-colonization events. In view of the isolated location of Gotland, it is probable that the hares were brought there by human means of transport.

This entry presents a brief history of the emergence of feminism, gender, and queer in North American archaeology, which, along with the United Kingdom and Scandinavia to a lesser degree, represents the geographic origin and center of such work. The key concepts as used by archaeologists are defined; the relationship among them is explored and shown to be both problematic and productive. The place of feminism, gender, and queer within North American archaeology today is characterized and, finally, likely avenues of future research are suggested. The greatest impact of feminist, gender, and queer archaeologies has been on the authority of positivist approaches, the objectivity of interpretation, equity issues within the profession, collaborative knowledge making, and the understanding of key archaeological interpretive concepts.

Viking-age boat grave burials are a less common but still repeatedly used way to bury the dead during the late Iron Age. Boat burials are exceptional in many aspects, not only due to placing the individual in a boat with numerous burial gifts including animals, but also by burying the individual without prior cremation, a common practice during the Iron Age. The aim of this thesis is to genetically analyse inhumation boat graves and compare the genetic composition of the ancient individuals with modern populations through population genetic analyses. This will highlight these particular human remains in a mobility context. A total of 11 individuals was analysed, but only one yielded enough DNA for further statistical analyses. This one individual proved genetically exceptionally well preserved. The results clearly show that the individual (a female) has a genetic affinity to populations in northern Europe. However, the results do not discriminate between modern Baltic/Scandinavian populations, depending on the statistical test.

This study deals with the contribution of the genetic variant lactase persistence among Neolithic people from the Baltic Island Öland. Skeletal remains from twelve individuals went through DNA sequencing in order to find the mutation that allows adult individuals to digest milk sugar. The twelve individuals were chosen from two different Neolithic sites, where the archaeological and isotopic data suggest that the individuals from Köpingsvik were hunters and gatherers and the individuals from Resmo were early farmers. The individuals with the genetic variant lactase persistence can be described with selection and genetic flow. Only five individuals produced results and the mutation was found in two of the subjects. All the individuals who were successfully sequenced came from Resmo, whereasno individuals from Köpingsvik yielded any results.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate how politics was done at the level of the parliamentary constituencies at the time of the treaty of Amiens 1802-1803. This is achieved through two case studies of the elections in Middlesex and Nottingham, which are investigated as social practices. This thesis argues that understandings of masculinity and national identity, as well as questions about the nature of the constitution and citizen rights were central to participants in the extraparliamentary political process. Collective emotions were also highly important in the process of mobilising political support, and this thesis emphasises that participation in these elections was a collective effort; men and women from all levels of society were significant political actors. Moreover, this thesis demonstrates the importance of competences such as knowledge about the organisation of crowds and political violence in the performance of the election.

The collection covers topics of interest to both the historical and linguistic study of the contacts between speakers of African and Iberian languages in the constitution of Latin American societies. Supported by historical and demographic data, the twelve chapters cover topics of interest to the discussion on the formation of Latin American varieties of Portuguese and Spanish. Moreover, the book draws attention to the need to articulate the fields of Linguistics and History and contributes to the discussion on the formation of varieties of Latin American Portuguese and Spanish.

This article presents the “Smolensk Archives”, which consist mainly of documents from the Chancellery of Smolensk from the time of the Polish king Sigismund III’s siege of the city (1609–1611). Most of the documents are now in the Swedish National Archives in Stockholm, but a significant number are also to be found at the Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg. The archives have a complex history. Following the fall of Smolensk in 1611, they were taken as spoils of war, ending up on the Sapieha family estate in present-day Belarus. In the mid‑17th century they were seized as war booty once again — now by Swedish troops — and taken to Skokloster Castle in Sweden. There they were discovered in the 1830s by Helsinki professor Sergej Solov’ev, who in turn removed a relatively large part of the collection to St Petersburg. Portions of Solov’ev’s collection of documents from Skokloster were published in 1841 in Akty istoričeskie. Around 1900, Russian historian Jurij Got’e worked on the documents from the Swedish National Archives, and in 1912, he published a text edition comprising much of the collection, Pamjatniki oborony Smolenska 1609–1611. The article includes a brief overview of the contents of the material in Stockholm, with a few examples of individual documents. A digital catalogue of the Smolensk Archives is currently being prepared, including brief descriptions of the contents and information on external characteristics such as condition, inscriptions and watermarks.

Archaeologists have long noted the striking monumentality and large-scale efforts behind the Iron Age hilltop settlements. Yet, because of limited excavations, they represent a controversial part of the Migration Period society and much of their function remains hidden. This paper deals with questions concerning the inner organization and activities that took place within the Iron Age hilltop settlement at Runsa. The study is linked to the ongoing project ”Runsa fornborg –En befast centralplats i ostra Malardalen under folkvandringstid” which aims to investigate the socio-political functions of Runsa. In an attempt to establish a nuanced picture and distinguish space use within the hilltop settlement, a multi-variable approach is used. Alongside more traditional methods, element analysis by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) and lipid analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is emphasized.

Is it possible to survive on a deserted farm: Manors, tenants and farming systems during the Middle Ages in the Lägerbo area, Östergötland.

This study approaches the late medieval farm desertion from a landscape perspective. It focuses on the area of a former medieval estate in southern Östergötland, Sweden. Based on a retrogressive analysis of cadastral maps and historical records the medieval settlement is reconstructed. In this process three formerly unknown deserted farms were identified, with abandoned field systems and building remains. The volume provides the archaeological documentation of field systems and settlements at these sites. These data provide the background for investigating the shifting social and ecological circumstances that once made it possible for tenant families to survive on these farms. During the height of the manorial system the small farms were specialised units in a redistributive system. In the late 14th century the estate and all tenant farms were donated to the convents of Vadstena and Vreta. Rents were no longer paid in labour but in butter. In the fifteenth century several farms were abandoned and turned into meadows under the surviving farms. The new tenurial relations prevented the recolonization of the farms. The study is the result of an interdisciplinary project involving medieval archaeology, historical geography, palynology and medieval history.

This thesis deals mainly with the Middle Neolithic period (ca. 3200-2300 BC) on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. The aim is to deepen the understanding of how the islanders related to their surroundings, to the landscape, to places, to objects, to animals and to humans, both living and dead. The archaeological material is studied downwards and up with a focus on practices, especially the handling and deposition of materials and objects in graves, within sites and in the landscape. The study is comparative and the Middle Neolithic is described in relation to the Early Neolithic and the Mesolithic period on the island.

From a long term perspective the island is presented as a region where strong continuity can be identified, regarding both way of life and economy. In contrast, substantial changes did occur through time regarding the islander’s conceptions of the world and of social relations. This in turn affected the way they looked upon the landscape, different sites and animals, as well as other human beings. During the Mesolithic, the islanders first saw it as possible to create their world, their micro-cosmos, wherever they were, and they saw themselves as living in symbiosis with seals. With time, though, they started to relate, to connect and to identify themselves with the island, its landscape and its material, with axe sites and a growing group identity as results. The growing group identity culminated during the Early Neolithic with a dualistic conception of the world and with ritualised depositions in border zones.

The Middle Neolithic is presented as a period when earlier boundaries were dissolved. This concerned, for example, boundaries towards the world around the islanders and they were no longer keeping themselves to their own sphere. At the same time individuals became socially important. It became accepted and also vital to give expression to personal identity, which was done through objects, materials and animals. Despite this, group identity continued to be an important part in their lives. This is most evident through the specific Pitted Ware sites, where the dead were also treated and buried. These places were sites for ritual and social practices, situated in visible, central and easy accessible locations, like gates in and out of the islands’ different areas. The dead were very important for the islanders. In the beginning of MN B they started to adopt aspects from the Battle Axe culture, but they never embraced Battle Axe grave customs. Instead they held on to the Pitted Ware way of dealing with the dead and buried, and to the Pitted Ware sites, through the whole period, with large burial grounds as a result.

Köping is a small town in Västmanland, which is situated in the westernmost part of Lake Mälaren and in the southeast of Bergslagen. Köping was established and received its rights as a town in 1474. However, archaeological findings showthat Köping was a settlement in late prehistoric and early historic periods and continued to be an important place up until recent times. Due to the location Köping was a marketplace with connections and good fairways from all directions and most of all by LakeMälaren. Ancient monuments and remains indicate thatKöping were well established in the early Iron Age and mainly in the Vendel era in 550-800 A.D, which is the era in focus here. Even though there are many archaeological remains in and around Köping very little research has been done. There have been several excavations but there have been few further studies and close to no osteological analyzes. This paper will deal with four burial grounds which all were mostly excavated in the first half of the 20thcentury, and are briefly reported. The burial sites are all located in Köping with at the most 5 km from each other, and were all used during the Vendel era. Two of the sites, Jämmertuna and Kramsta, mainly have stone-settings with cremated bones. One of the sites is located next to a great tumulus called Ströbohög, and consists of smaller mounds and stone-settings. All with cremated bones. The last one is a burial site that is called Norsa which consists of both stone-settings with cremated bones and also burials containing boatgraves and chamber tombs. All of these burial customs are common in Mälardalen during this time. What is interesting is the location, inhumation of the cemeteriesand also that they have not beenused for a long period of time. A comparative study is presented of a similar butlarger site in Tuna in Badelunda, Västerås, which is located about 40 km from Köping. This will be an osteoarchaeological study with the purpose to understand this characterof the areaduring this time as the westernmost part of Lake Mälaren and as a part of Bergslagen. There seems to be a difference regarding the customs and who are represented in the burial ground even though they are from the same time and place, thereforethere will also be a comparisonbetween the different sites regarding the human remains and burial customs.The difference is seen mainly in the individuals, regarding both the male and female presence and also regarding the animals represented in the different graves. This may be connected to aborderlandphenomenonwere different traditions and customs were mixed and assimilated.This study contributeswith more knowledge of the time and place, both within the town and to Mälardalen/Bergslagenin general.

Köping is a small town in Västmanland, which is situated in the westernmost part of Lake Mälaren and in the southeast of Bergslagen. Köping was established and received its rights as a town in 1474. However, archaeological findings show that Köping was a settlement in late prehistoric and early historic periods and continued to be an important place up until recent times. Due to the location Köping was a marketplace with connections and good fairways from all directions and most of all by Lake Mälaren. Ancient monuments and remains indicate that Köping were well established in the early Iron Age and mainly in the Vendel era in 550-800 A.D, which is the era in focus here. Even though there are many archaeological remains in and around Köping very little research has been done. There have been several excavations but there have been few further studies and close to no osteological analyzes. This paper will deal with four burial grounds which all were mostly excavated in the first half of the 20th century, and are briefly reported. The burial sites are all located in Köping with at the most 5 km from each other, and were all used during the Vendel era. Two of the sites, Jämmertuna and Kramsta, mainly have stone-settings with cremated bones. One of the sites is located next to a great tumulus called Ströbohög, and consists of smaller mounds and stone-settings. All with cremated bones. The last one is a burial site that is called Norsa which consists of both stone-settings with cremated bones and also burials containing boatgraves and chamber tombs. All of these burial customs are common in Mälardalen during this time. What is interesting is the location, inhumation of the cemeteries and also that they have not been used for a long period of time. A comparative study is presented of a similar but larger site in Tuna in Badelunda, Västerås, which is located about 40 km from Köping. This will be an osteoarchaeological study with the purpose to understand this character of the area during this time as the westernmost part of Lake Mälaren and as a part of Bergslagen. There seems to be a difference regarding the customs and who are represented in the burial ground even though they are from the same time and place, therefore there will also be a comparison between the different sites regarding the human remains and burial customs. The difference is seen mainly in the individuals, regarding both the male and female presence and also regarding the animals represented in the different graves. This may be connected to a borderland phenomenon were different traditions and customs were mixed and assimilated. This study contributes with more knowledge of the time and place, both within the town and to Mälardalen/Bergslagen in general.

This paper deals with the late Viking age/early medieval grave field in Björned, Torsåker parish, Ångermanland County in northern Sweden. The grave field in Björned is rare because it has all the signs of being Christianized before the surroundings. This awakes questions such as if the people of Björned came from another place and brought the religion with them or if someone else did that for them. To find these answers I have analysed the stable isotope ratios [delta]13C, [delta]15N and [delta]34S in human bone collagen. Through these stable isotopes we can not only see what the people consumed but also where their food had its origin. It seems like several people from the grave field had a different origin then the rest.